Discuss the true nature of consciousness and describe how it has been studied
by psychologists

Describe the stages of sleep and identify various sleep disorders

Discuss the potential functions of dreams and daydreams

Identify categories of psychoactive drugs and discuss drug use

Compare/contrast hypnosis and meditation

II. Consciousness

Scientific psychology started as the study of consciousnesspsychologists
were to observe conscious processes, just as biologists observed living
organisms and astronomers observed the heavens. William James (1890), the
American philosopher and psychologist, defined psychology as the "Science
of Mental Life" but two years later, apparently mired in a blue funk, he
wrote that psychology was a "string of raw facts; a little gossip and wrangle
about opinions...but not a single law in the sense in which physics has
laws, not a single proposition from which any consequence can casually
be deduced....This is no science, it is only the hope of science" (1892/1948,
p. 468). In 1913 John B Watson concurred with Jamess assessment but Watson,
who was not given to despair, proposed a solution. "Psychology as the behaviorist
views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science.
Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior....The time
seems to have come when psychology must discard all reference to consciousness"
(p.272-273). And psychology did, for Watson, Pavlovs and Thorndikes studies
of animal learning were the high tide that would carry psychology to a
fruitful future. These men studied higher mental function outside the bog
of mental life or consciousness. If Watson argued that the direct study
of consciousness was unscientific, Freud argued that it was unimportant.
For Freud, the conscious mind had but little effect on behavior; human
goals and actions were determined by a maelstrom of conflicting emotions
almost entirely out of awareness. Freud and Watson would have agreed on
little beyond the futility of studying consciousness. In the half century
since Watsons call, the estuary of consciousness ebbed, but in the 1960s,
when behaviorism came under attack from many directions, it began to flow
again. Now, at the turn of a new century, mind and consciousness are at
the flood stage. Physicists, biologists, computer scientists, philosophers,
as well as psychologists, are attempting to unravel the workings of consciousness
and the mind.

The fuzzy outline of consciousness is relatively easy to establish.
Ask students to think of how the word is used in everyday speech. We say
we are conscious when we are awake, when we are aware of what we see, or
hear, or of our feelings. We know hat coffee makes us alert, that alcohol
makes us giddy, and that other drugs can affect, or alter, our consciousness
in a variety of ways. And we know that we are frequently, though not entirely,
unaware of the causes of our behavior because they are unconscious, as
Freud argued.

Exercise: Ask class to make a list of the main effects of various
drugs, like caffeine, nicotine, heroin (or morphine or codeine), and cocaine.
Then ask them what are the withdrawal effects of these drugs. Their
answers may be from their own experience or from movies or books.
In general, the withdrawal effects are the opposite of the main drug effects.
For instance, caffeine makes us alert. If we stop drinking coffee,
we become drowsy. It also constricts blood vessels; if we stop we
get headaches, which generally are caused by dilation of blood vessels.
Have the class discover the fact that the withdrawal effects are the
opposite of the main drug effectS

1. The environment controls tolerance (Seigel in Y. Israel,
et al., 1983, pp. 207-46) This view argues that tolerance to drugs is classically
conditioned. The conditioned stimulus is some aspect of the environment.
The conditioned response compensates for, or neutralizes, the main effect
of the drug and accounts for tolerance. Tolerance does not occur
in the absence of the conditioned stimulus.

2. Change in environment may lead to overdose death (Seigel, et al.,
1982, -a great read).If you take the drug under unusual circumstancesi.e.,
without the conditioned stimulusthere is no tolerance and that can lead
to an apparent overdose.

Exercise 1: Ask those students who have tried to give
up a drug, like nicotine, about the circumstances under which they relapsedwas
it an environment normally associated with the drug?

Exercise 2: Conditioning of hunger (craving)
a. Baseline: 20 minutes or so into class get students to rate hunger
on a Likert scale.
b. Training: Split class; give half sugarless gum, half sugared gum
each class for a month or so.
c. Test: After a month, give all students sugarless gum, get hunger
rating, again 20 minutes or so into the class on the Likert scale.
d. Compare ratings of those trained on sugarless to those trained on
sugared gum (sugared should feel hungrier).
e. If it works, this shows that environmental cues (room, taste) can
trigger hunger (opposite of eating sugar), makes it plausible that they
could also trigger drug hunger. The mechanism is probably something
like his: When sugar enters the blood stream, the body releases insulin,
which allows the body to metabolize the sugar. If the sugar is entering
under certain environmental circumstances (i.e., is he CS), then the person
uses those circumstances to anticipate the incoming sugar and releases
insulin in advance (i.e., the CR). Now if you slip him sugarless
gum (same taste), the CS will trigger a CR of a release of insulin but
sine there is no sugar to deal with, it will simply reduce the amount of
sugar already present in the blood, leading to hunger, and maybe a craving
specifically for gum. If it doesnt work, discuss research methodology.

Day 3

III. Biology of consciousness (Schneider and Tarshis, 1995, pp. 632-665.)
A.. Does the brain work as a whole or are functions
localized?
Exercise: Ask students
about relatives who have had strokes; relate side of paralysis to cognitive
deficit.
B. Left hemisphere and language: Brocas and Wernickes
areas
C. Right hemisphere and perception: Block design
and Neglect Syndrome
D. Coordinating the Hemisphere: Role of corpus callosum
E. Split brain studies
IV. Hypnosis and meditation (Smith, Ch. 6): Heightened suggestibility
with narrowed attention
A. Post-hypnotic amnesia
B. Pain relief through post-hypnotic suggestion
C. Myths
D. Similarity of meditation to self-hypnosis
E. The Near Death Experience as an explanation of
consciousness (See Activity 5)
F. Guided Imagery (See Activity 6)

In Instructor Resources to Accompany Myers Psychology (4th
ed), there is a brief true-or-false quiz on states of consciousness which
is designed to be administered prior to discussion of the topic. This instrument
helps students identify misconceptions they may have about the subject
matter, while simultaneously introducing the topic to them.

Activity 2

In the Critical Thinking Companion for Introductory Psychology, Halomen
introduces an activity which allows students an opportunity to explore
the topic of jet lag while developing their skills in experimental design.
This assignment is designed to demonstrate the challenges posed by experimental
research.

Activity 3

In Instructor Resources to Accompany Myers Psychology (4th
ed), Bolt presents data from several studies exploring dream content. In
addition, suggestions are given for students who may want to develop their
own dream journal.

Activity 4

Instructor Resources to Accompany Myers Psychology (4th
ed) contains two brief surveys which may be used by students to help them
recognize potential signs of drug abuse. This activity can also be used
for purposes of classroom discussion.

Activity 5

In the Critical Thinking Companion for Introductory Psychology, Halonen
introduces students to both spiritual and physiological hypotheses to explain
near death experiences. Students are invited to critically evaluate both
hypotheses and to explore their own beliefs regarding this phenomenon.

Activity 6

In Mind Games, Masters and Houston present a variety of activities which
may be used either within the classroom or outside the class to introduce
students to guided imagery.